Holes in the darkness

By Bishop Leonard E. Fairley

The instructions were simple enough: “Please bring a coat and a flashlight.” However, my being cold natured, I remembered the coat but forgot the flashlight. I stumbled over the exposed cypress tree roots, barely making it down to the lakeshore and almost missing the sunrise at the Easter sunrise service.

We often miss the light that is Jesus Christ when we are stumbling through the darkness of the wilderness distracted by the tyranny of the urgent, but God always provides light for our darkness and hope for our despair.

“Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of the world’” (John 8:12).

There is a story told about Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent his childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the 1850s. One evening at dusk, with his face pinned to the window, he became fascinated by the lamplighter. He was mesmerized by the lighting of the street’s gas lamps that were setting the night ablaze with light. With great excitement he rushed to his father shouting, “Look at that man! He’s punching holes in the darkness.”

The season of Lent can feel like the dark night of the soul as we journey through the wilderness towards Easter. “Punching holes in the darkness” is what Jesus came into the world to do.

Whatever wilderness darkness is causing you to stumble, may Jesus, the light of the world, guide you through the darkness.

“In him there is no darkness at all; the night and the day are both alike. The Lamb is the light of the city of God, shine in my heart, Lord Jesus” (Kathleen Thomerson).

We need not be afraid of the wilderness of Lent because we do not journey without a light to guide us. The journey leads us toward the light of redemption, salvation and reconciliation. The light of Christ is with us no matter the wilderness. It might be Friday, but Sunday is coming!